
Copernical Team
Powerhouse hurricane watchdog satellite launches aboard SpaceX Falcon Heavy

The last of a series of hurricane-hunting satellites got its most powerful ride ever to space June 25 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.
The rocket that is essentially three Falcon 9's strapped together blasted off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-A at 5:26 p.m. Eastern time carrying the 11,000-pound GOES-U satellite for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, partnered with NASA.
Weather worries proved unfounded for the launch site as teams threaded the needle of afternoon thunderstorms to take flight amid blue skies to the cheers of gathered crowds.
About eight minutes after liftoff—with a kettle of vultures taking flight to get out of the way—two of the three boosters for Falcon Heavy made a recovery touchdown back at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Landing Zones 1 and 2. Their supersonic return knocked out a pair of double sonic booms that set off car alarms and struck a unique whistling reverb sound off the massive Vehicle Assembly Building.
The center core booster will crash into the Atlantic with no recovery planned.
Expending the center core is needed to send GOES-U to a transfer orbit that will take it to an ultimate destination 22,000 miles away from Earth.
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ESA is committed to deliver on the promise of Zero Debris by 2030. To ensure compliant satellites can be designed and built in time, ESA is supporting industry during this technologically challenging transition.
On 25 June 2024, three major European space industry players each signed a contract with ESA to develop large low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite platforms that conform to Zero Debris standards.
The space bricks have landed!

ESA scientists have been exploring how a future Moon base might be built from materials on the lunar surface. Inspired by LEGO building, they have used dust from a meteorite to 3D-print 'space bricks' to test the idea. ESA's space bricks are on display in selected LEGO Stores from 20 June to 20 September, helping to inspire the next generation of space engineers.